Floating landing stages

ABSTRACT

A floating landing stage including a plurality of floating jetties the free ends of adjacent jetties being interconnected by ties which prevent any substantial movement of the jetties relative to each other or to the remainder of the landing stage and which are located beneath the surface of the water so as to allow passage of craft between the jetties. Guide means is provided to restrain the movement of the landing stage relative to the shore so that the landing stage can rise and fall with the water in which it is floating without any substantial lateral movement.

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[54] FLUATIING LANUIING @TAGEfi UNITED STATES PATENTS [72] Inventor:Walter Enwer, Newark, England 3,091,203 5/ 1963 Usab ..l l4/0.5 F

3,362,172 1 1968 R tt ..6l 67 X [73] Assignee: Thus. fitorey (Engineers)Limited, London, I u er I England Primary ExaminerJacob Shapiro Filed: p21, Attorney-Dowel] & Dowell [21] Appl. No.: 30,419 [57] ABSTRACT Afloating landing stage including a plurality of floating jetties 30]Foreign Appuicaflon Priority Dam the free ends of adjacent jetties beinginterconnected by ties which prevent any substantial movement of thejetties relative Apr. 24, 1969 Great Britain ..20,976/69 to each otheror to the remainder of the landing stage and which are located beneaththe surface of the water so as to 52 us. Cl ..t3ll/4l8, 61/65 allowPassage of craft between thejetties. Guide means is P 51 llnt. Cll .mzn3/20, E02c 5/02 vided restrain the mmmem of the landing Stage relativfi[58] Fwd of Search 61/48 65 114/0 5 F 0 5 the shore so that the landingstage can rise and fall with the water in which it is floating withoutany substantial lateral movement.

[56] References Cited 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDFEB 22 1912 3,643 ,448

SHEU 2 [IF 4 W% 8 Inventor FLOATING LANDING STAGES This inventionrelates to floating landing stages and in particular to floating landingstages including a plurality of floating jetties.

In such a landing stage each jetty may extend outwardly from the watersedge and its outer end (hereinafter referred to as its free end) has tobe restrained against lateral movement. It has previously been proposedto restrain the free end of jetties of such a landing stage by providinga pile at the end of each jetty and linking the end of the jetty, by forexample a frame to the pile in such a manner as to allow verticalmovement between the jetty and the pile.

In accordance with the invention a floating landing stage includes aplurality of floating jetties, the free ends of adjacent jetties beinginterconnected by ties which prevent any substantial lateral movement ofthe jetties relative to each other or to the remainder of the landingstage and which are so located as to allow passage of craft between thejetties, guide means being provided to restrain the movement of thelanding stage relative to the shore so that the landing stage can riseand fall with the water in which it is floating without any substantiallateral movement. This arrangement has advantages over that previouslyproposed in that a pile is not required for each jetty and further, as aconsequence it is more feasible to adjust the spacing between thejetties in order for example to accommodate craft of different sizes.

The ties may be flexible in which case they preferably comprise ropes orchains. In this context by the term ropes I mean to include all means ofa like nature for example cords, hawsers and cables, and which may bemanufactured from any convenient material. In the preferred form of theinvention I prefer to use steel ropes.

At least a portion of the flexible ties preferably pass beneath thesurface of the water and in this case the ends of the ties arepreferably secured to respective jetties above the surface of the water,each jetty including guide means which extend downwardly beneath thesurface of the water and through which a respective tie passes. Thearrangement should be such that the ties pass a sufficient distancebeneath the surface of the water to allow craft to pass over them. Eachtie preferably is secured to screw adjusting means at least one endwhereby the tension in the tie may be adjusted.

The guide means for restraining the movement of the landing stagerelative to the shore may comprise any suitable means for example it maycomprise at least two piles one of which is located adjacent to the endof both of the outermost jetties, these two jetties being secured to thepiles by means of frames so as to allow vertical movement between thepiles and landing stages. However in the preferred embodiment of theinvention the said guide means comprises a number of pairs of guiderails, each pair of rails defining a vertical channel therebetween,respective cooperating guide means extending into each channel beingguided by the rails so as to allow vertical movement of the jetty andrestrain lateral movement of the 'etty.

J One embodiment of the invention will now be described with referenceto the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of a part of a landing stage inaccordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an end elevation, on an enlarged scale of one of the jettiesof the landing stage of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective end view of a modification of a jetty of FIG. 2;and

FIG. 4 shows a detail of guide means for restraining movement of thelanding stage of FIG. I relative to the shore.

As will be seen from the drawings the waters edge is defined by sheetpiling 2. The landing stage illustrated has perimeter stages 4 and 6along side the piling 2 and jetties 8 extending outwardly from the stage6 into the water. The perimeter stages 4 and 6 and the jetties 8 aresupported over the water by floats 9. The jetties 8 are interconnectedby flexible ties 110 at their outer ends and are also connected by a tie112 to the perimeter stage 4. The ties 10 are so positioned as to allowthe passage of craft between the jetties and extend beneath the surfaceof the water between downwardly extending brackets 14 each mountedbeneath the end of a respective jetty 6 and perimeter stage 41. The ties12 (one of which is shown) are similarly positioned and extend beneaththe surface of the water between a bracket 1141 and a bracket I6 mountedbeneath each of the perimeter stages.

Referring to FIG. 2 the bracket M provides two downwardly extendingguide means [16 in the form of hollow arms 18 through which the flexibleties pass. The flexible ties are preferably chain or rope and I preferto use steel rope. The end of one of the ropes is bolted at 20 to thejetty. The other end of this rope is secured to the adjacent jetty bymeans of a screw adjuster. Such a screw adjuster is indicated at 22 inFIG. 2. The other rope of this jetty passes round a pulley 24 and issecured to the jetty by means of the: screw adjuster 22. The tension inthe ropes may be adjusted by adjustment of the respective screw adjuster22.

The arms 18 of the bracket 14 are of such a length as to position theropes sufficiently deeply for the craft intending to use the landingstage to pass thereover. If it is desired to make provision for craft ofdeeper draught than normal an extension bracket such as that indicatedat 26 in. FIG. 3 may be bolted to the bottom of the bracket 14 so as toposition one of the ropes at a greater distance beneath the surface ofthe water. A similar bracket 26 is required on the adjacent jetty.

It will be appreciated that the position of the jetties 6 may be quicklyadjusted at their free ends by adjusting the length of the respectiveties 10 or 12.

The guide means for restraining the movement of the land ing stagerelative to the shore are illustrated in detail in FIG. 4i. The twooutermost jetties 8 are tied to adjacent perimeter stages 4 by means ofties 12 which pass through a hollow arm 28 of bracket 16 and are boltedto the perimeter stage 30. The perimeter stage 4 is restrained againstsubstantial lateral movement by means of a pair of guide rails 32 andcooperating guide means mounted on the perimeter stage 4- which comprisetwo pairs of wheels 34. Each pair of wheels 34l is rotatably mounted ona common axle 36. The upper pair of wheels 34 are mounted on a member 38extending outwardly from the deck 40 of the perimeter stage. The lowerpair of wheels 34 are mounted on a member 40 extending outwardly fromthe lower end from the bracket 116. The rails 32 are L- shaped and areso arranged as to form a channel from which the wheels 34 cannot bewithdrawn laterally. The wheels 34! run on the rails 32 and thus confinethe landing stage to vertical movement. The rails 32 are mounted in arecess M in the sheet piling 2 by means of braces 46.

The landing stage may be modified, for example: one or both of theperimeter stages 4 may not be required-or indeed there may be no watersedge along which a perimeter stage may run, in this case the free endsof the outermost jetties may be tied to free standing piles in such amanner as to allow vertical movement between the jetties and the piles;the perimeter stage 6 may not be required in which case the inner endsof the jetties may either be connected by rigid tie members or by anarrangement flexible tie members similar to that at their outer ends,the inner end of the jetties also being restrained by similar guidemeans allowing vertical movement but not lateral movement; the jettiesmay, if long, be interconnected by ties and restrained by guide means atone or more additional positions between their ends; the perimeter stagemay itself extend into the water so that it has a free end, in this casethe perimeter stage 48 in fact constitutes a jetty and its free end mustbe restrained against substantial lateral movement by for example aconnection to a pile adjacent its end, the connection allowing verticalmovement of the perimeter stage relative to the pile.

I claim:

1. A floating landing stage including a plurality of parallel floatingjetties each having at least one free end; flexible ties, each havingtwo ends, connecting the free ends of adjacent jetties to prevent anysubstantial lateral movement of the jet ties relative to each other orto the remainder of the landing stage, the ends of the ties beingsecured to respective jetties above the surface of the water, each jettyincluding guide means which extend downwardly beneath the surface of thewater and through which a respective tie passes to so locate 3. Afloating landing stage as claimed in claim 1 wherein the guide means torestrain the movement of the landing stage relative to the shorecomprises a number of pairs of spaced L- shaped guide rails, each pairof rails defining a vertical channel therebetween, respectivecooperating guide means extending into each channel and being guided byboth arms of the L- shaped rails so as to allow vertical movement of thejetty and restrain lateral movement of the jetty.

4. A floating landing stage as claimed in claim 3 wherein thecooperating guide means each comprise at least one wheel or roller.

1. A floating landing stage including a plurality of parallel floatingjetties each having at least one free end; flexible ties, each havingtwo ends, connecting the free ends of adjacent jetties to prevent anysubstantial lateral movement of the jetties relative to each other or tothe remainder of the landing stage, the ends of the ties being securedto respective jetties above the surface of the water, each jettyincluding guide means which extend downwardly beneath the surface of thewater and through which a respective tie passes to so locate the ties asto allow passage of craft between the jetties, guides means beingprovided to restrain the movement of the landing stage relative to theshore so that the landing stage can rise and fall with the water inwhich it is floating without any substantial lateral movement.
 2. Afloating landing stage as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one endtie is secured to screw adjusting means whereby the tension in the tiemay be adjusted.
 3. A floating landing stage as claimed in claim 1wherein the guide means to restrain the movement of the landing stagerelative to the shore comprises a number of pairs of spaced L-shapedguide rails, each pair of rails defining a vertical channeltherebetween, respective cooperating guide means extending into eachchannel and being guided by both arms of the L-shaped rails so as toallow vertical movement of the jetty and restrain lateral movement ofthe jetty.
 4. A floating landing stage as claimed in claim 3 wherein thecooperating guide means each comprise at least one wheel or roller.